Tshwane – The National Treasury will soon be rundown like other state institutions such as the ailing South African Broadcasting Corporation and power utility Eskom, trade unionist Zwelinzima Vavi told protesters on Monday.

"They are going to chase out every person who has capacity in this building (National Treasury). The hyenas are going to be invited to come and take over," Vavi said when he addressed hundreds of protesters outside National Treasury in Pretoria.

"In two, three or five years, mark my words, this department that was celebrated in terms of being one of the most efficient, will become (like) Eskom, SABC, PetroSA, and all other state institutions that have been driven to the ground by the Zupta gang of thieves."

Picture: ANA

"They don't care a damn about your future, or the future of your children. What they are doing ... is all about cut and run. They don't care about what will happen to the children." Vavi was leading hundreds of Save South Africa activists who have been protesting since President Jacob Zuma reshuffled Cabinet last week. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was axed and replaced by Malusi Gigaba.

"The staff here (National Treasury) is frightened. They know what he (Gigaba) and his cahoots represent. Don't be fooled with what he was saying. We know his history, he is coming from home affairs department, where he outsourced every important function of home affairs to private firms," said Vavi, the Steering Committee Convener of the new South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).

"The firms are now making money that they were not making even during the apartheid era. Even during apartheid the Home Affairs had the capacity to provide the services that any Home Affairs Department must provide.

"Now things like visas processing have been handed over to their friends in the private sector. We know that before that, he (Gigaba) came from the Department of Public Enterprises where he removed the boards, the chairpersons of the boards, for no reason except to advance the interests of the Gupta family. That's the Malusi Gigaba we know."

Vavi said President Jacob Zuma was "talking nonsense" when he said he had reshuffled his cabinet to pursue radical economic transformation.

"He is talking nonsense. The radical economic transformation he is talking about is radical thievery, radical primitive accumulation, radical pillaging of the resources of the country, radical stealing. Malusi spoke (on Saturday) about radical economic transformation as a concept, but he will not dare unpack it in terms of what he means," said Vavi.

He said Gigaba will be implementing "the austerity and the neoliberal programmes" and the continuation of the status quo.

Picture: ANA

"There will be no radical economic transformation of nothing. The nine million unemployed people will continue to suffer. In fact they will suffer even more," said Vavi.

"The people who go to bed without eating anything will continue to multiply. The people living in poverty in our country will continue to live in poverty. That is what the ANC has represented for 22 years. They have managed the economy to the crisis that we are seeing today."

Vavi led protesters on a march from the National Treasury to the Union Buildings.